August 21, 2007

Storytime

Quite often I’ll ask people to tell me a story.I usually ask this randomly and without any sort of lead up.Generally when I do this I’m met with a blank stare, followed by a mumble of “I don’t have any stories, you tell me a story.”But I asked first! You would think they’d be able to come up with something, anything.I don’t ask for a specific story; it needn’t be true, about you or rhyme with blue, it just has to be a story to keep me amused.Sometimes people surprise me and come up with a fantastic tale of wonder and excitement, other times it’s like pulling teeth and they refuse to part with more than a few sentences.Today I’m going to tell you a story in the hopes that the next time someone asks you to tell them a story, (particularly if that someone is me) you will indulge them and tell them a story as though your life depended on it.

Once upon a time there lived a smart but indecisive young girl who could never bring herself to make any decisions.Every day was a struggle as it’s awfully difficult to go through life without making choices.From the time she woke up in the morning to the time she went to bed she was constantly agonizing over even the most mundane of decisions.What would she eat for breakfast?How should she prepare it?What recipe, if any, should she use?Often times, she would spend so long trying to make a choice that the window of opportunity would pass her by, effectively making a decision for her, to do nothing.Sometimes this meant that it would be lunch time before she had breakfast, or that she would nibble and fill up on premade items before ever getting around to cooking, simply because she couldn’t decide what to make.Her lack of ability to choose was paralyzing this poor girl.She was a like a deer caught in headlights; scared, but unable to move.On the rare occasion that she actually made a decision, instead of embracing her choice and moving on, she would brood over it, wondering if it was the right thing to do, usually deciding that it wasn’t.At restaurants, selecting from the menu was always an exhausting affair.It seemed that no matter what she picked, she inevitably should have chosen something else.The grass was always greener on the other side and she was never satisfied with what she received, no matter how good it was.

This smart but indecisive young girl was not ungrateful though.On the contrary, she was fully aware of her fortunate circumstances and was thankful for them but sadly this only added to her decision making problems because it made her feel guilty for not being happier with the choices she made.Every so often this unhappiness and frustration at not being able to make decisions would culminate in a burst of spontaneous decision making.During one of these bursts, all sorts of choices would be made while throwing caution to the wind.These bursts of decisions could be small such as determining exactly what to make for dinner and how to do it or they could be large such as quitting her job and moving to a new city or country even.These outbursts were unpredictable and uncontrollable and usually resulted in feelings of uneasiness at the rashness of her decisions.Every now and then however, an outburst would result in a stroke of brilliance and a decision would be made that would help reset her course in life… or at least provide her with a delicious meal such as pretty tasty porky dumplings.These strokes of brilliance, when they occur in the kitchen, are unfortunately not marked with accurate measurements or attention to detail.

The smart but indecisive girl suggests that to create your own pretty tasty porky dumplings, you combine: ground pork, ginger, water chestnuts, lime juice and zest, tamarind sauce, egg yolk, onion, various spices and mushrooms.She suggests that you mix all of these ingredients, (and more if you’d like) by hand until it smells good.Then simply fill wonton wrappers and steam to perfection.If you end up having more filling that wonton wrappers, it would be a wise decision to fry the leftovers and roll them up in a tortilla with lettuce for lunch.

The best stories are the ones that allow/require the reader/listener on into the future . . . Great story Brilynn! Love the dumplings . . . beautiful shape!I'm only too familiar with the difficulty making choices!